From Yesterday
by Avrel the Teller
Summary: The gray house to the left belonged to the Bondeviks. The bright yellow house on the right belonged to the Bonnefoys. Two neighbors grew up together, becoming the best of friends, but sometimes friendship becomes something more.


They had been neighbors since they had been born, but they had never officially met until the summer before they started kindergarten.

The gray house on the left belonged to the Bondevik family. The Bondeviks had two young boys, seven-year-old Lukas and five-year-old Emil. Both boys were rather quiet and often kept to themselves. It was common to see Emil trailing after Lukas, or Lukas telling Emil fairy tales.

The house to the right couldn't be any more different. It was painted a bright yellow, and there were colorful flowers in all the windows. This house belonged to the Bonnefoys, a single father and his five-year-old daughter, Angelique. Many of the street's residents could remember when Francis Bonnefoy had moved into the neighborhood with his wife, Jeanne, seven years before. Their happiness and cheer had been uncontrollable, and when Angie was born, Francis eagerly showed her off to the rest of the neighborhood.

Two years later, Jeanne was killed in a car accident.

For a while, Francis withdrew into himself. No one in the neighborhood saw him much for several months. Then, one day, Francis reappeared among everyone like nothing had happened, talking about Angie and inviting everyone he could to her third birthday party. And every year, on the anniversary of Jeanne's death, he would plant a new rose in his garden.

Not much changed in the two families for another two years. Angie became as outgoing and cheerful as her dad, always wanting to share her stories with her neighbors. And the Bondevik boys continued to stay by themselves. It wasn't until that summer before kindergarten that things changed.

Lukas had finally found a group of friends that school year, and although he let Emil tag along, the younger Bondevik never really felt comfortable with the group, and eventually the boys left him. That summer he spent most of his time alone. He often sat outside watching the other neighborhood kids play, but he never joined them himself.

One day, as he was sitting on the grass, a sudden shadow passed over him, covering the sunlight. Emil looked up to see Angie standing beside him, smiling widely. She was wearing an aqua blue bathing suit, and her brown hair was tied back in pigtails with red ribbons. "Hi! What's your name?" she asked.

"…Emil," he said hesitantly.

"I'm Angie!" she replied. "Well, my actual name's Angelique, but no one ever calls me that, not even Papa." She paused, waiting for Emil to respond. When he didn't, she just shrugged and said, "Anyway, I saw you just sitting here, and I wanted to know if you wanted to play in the sprinkler with me."

"The sprinkler?" Emil peered around Angie. A bright green sprinkler was set up in the middle of the yard, already prepared.

Angie nodded eagerly. "You look like you need someone to play with."

A small smile crept onto his face. "I'd love to play! Just give me a second to get my bathing suit." He pushed himself to his feet and ran inside his house, almost tripping in his excitement. It took almost no time for him to put on his red and blue bathing suit, and soon enough he was running with Angie under her sprinkler, having more fun than he'd had all summer.

* * *

When school started in September, Emil was happy to find out that Angie was in the same class as him. They sat next to each other in class, and every morning and afternoon they rode the bus together, and every weekend they played together, whether they were jumping in leave piles in the autumn or having snowball fights with the other neighborhood kids in the winter. Angie made everything exciting and fun, and it didn't matter that Lukas was spending less time with Emil.

Of course, that wasn't to say that they were only each other's friend. Angie was friends with almost everyone in their class, and halfway through the year Emil became close friends with a young Asian man named Leon. But Leon lived in a different neighborhood, and Angie was right next door, always ready to play. And Emil wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Elementary school seemed to fly by for the two. One day they were starting first grade, the next they were graduating from fifth and preparing to move on to the middle school.

On the day before they started sixth grade, Angie went to Emil's house to find him just sitting on his bed and staring at the wall. "Emil? You okay?"

Emil jumped and turned to face Angie, hastily scooting over to make room for her to sit down beside her. "Oh, hey, Angie. Yeah, everything…everything's fine."

She frowned and leaned closer to him. "You're my best friend, Emil. You can tell me."

Emil let out a shaky breath. "I suppose…It was just…Mathias was teasing me. About…about us."

"Us?" Angie repeated, her brow furrowed.

"Yeah. He was saying things like…like how boys and girls can't be just friends, and how obviously we…like…each other."

Angie laughed. "Aw, is that what you were upset about?" She placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned at him. "Mathias doesn't understand that we can just be friends. He's just a big dummy."

Emil smiled weakly. "Yeah, I guess he is. Lukas is always yanking on his collar when he says something stupid."

"You see?" Angie said. "Don't worry so much about what anyone says. We'll just be best friends forever!"

Emil nodded in agreement and stood up. "In that case, why don't we head outside now?"

Angie practically bounced up off of the bed, and together the two ran outside.

* * *

"Emil! Emil, you'll never believe this!" Angie practically shrieked as she raced into homeroom.

Emil looked up as she skidded to a stop beside him and plopped down into her chair. "What happened?"

"Feliciano invited me to the dance!" she exclaimed, bouncing in her seat.

For a few seconds, Emil simply froze. He couldn't speak, couldn't think, couldn't even move. But finally, he forced out a smile and said, "That's great! You'll have fun."

Angie smiled happily and began talking rapidly about the dance and Feliciano. Emil tried to pay attention, but he couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

They were freshmen in high school now, and things had begun to change, at least for Emil. Sometime between the end of middle school and the start of high school, he had begun to look at Angie differently. His palms would sweat whenever he talked to her, and he would start to blush. And now he felt sick whenever he thought of Feliciano and the dance.

"Simple. You're in love," Leon said when Emil had confided in him before English started, leaning back so far in his chair that it was a wonder he didn't simply tip over.

"Love?" Emil repeated, crossing his arms. "This is Angie we're talking about, Leon. I don't think I'm in love with one of my best friends."

Leon shrugged. "Whatever you say."

"Anyway, it's not like we need to go," Emil continued. "We can just hang out that night and not think about the dance at all."

"Actually, we can't," Leon said, letting his chair fall back on all four legs. "I asked Mei to go to the dance with me."

Emil stared at him for a moment. "Oh…Well, have fun, I guess…"

"Sorry, Emil. We'll just have to hang out some other time."

* * *

The dance came and went, and suddenly Angie wasn't his anymore. Now whenever he saw her at school she was with Feliciano, holding hands and hugging and kissing. Whenever he saw them together, he had to turn and walk in the other direction. He tried to be a good friend, he tried to listen to Angie when she told him about her date with Feliciano and how happy she was, but he just couldn't be happy for her.

That year passed slowly for Emil. It was a relief when summer finally came and he didn't have to see Angie and Feliciano together every day. But he still thought about it every day, and he finally accepted that maybe Leon had been right.

That summer was the first where he didn't see Angie often. He spent most of his time alone in his room, and he tried to tell himself that everything was fine this way, that he didn't mind being by himself. But it didn't stop his thoughts.

Then, one day in the middle of August, Emil got a text from Angie. It was short, simply asking him if they could talk, but he jumped at the opportunity, because if he was being completely honest he missed her and would give anything to be able to hang out with her again.

Emil sent a quick reply and ran out of his room, down the stairs, out the door, and toward Angie's house. He barely had time to knock on the door when it was flung open, and then Angie was pulling him inside and to her room.

"Angie, what -" he began, but Angie shook her head quickly. She pulled him inside her room and closed the door. It was only then that he was able to get a good look at her face. "…You've been crying."

Angie looked down at her feet. "…Feliciano and I broke up," she whispered. "We both agreed that things weren't working out for us and that it would be better but…but…" And then she had her face in his chest, and she was crying. Slowly, Emil wrapped his arms around her.

"It'll be okay, Angie," he murmured. "I'm right here. Just…cry all that you need to."

She cried for about ten minutes. Emil could feel her shaking as she tried to calm down. Finally, she stopped crying and looked up at him. "Thanks, Emil," she mumbled. "For being here."

A part of Emil wanted to tell her how he felt right then, but he knew nothing good would result from it for either of them, not when Angie had just broken up with Feliciano. "I'm always here for you," he said instead. "That's what friends do."

* * *

By the time school started again, Angie was back to her normal, cheerful self. Every time Emil wondered if it was time to confess to her, he found a million excuses as to why he shouldn't. He put it off for weeks, always finding this reason or that.

"Emil, if you don't hurry someone else is going to ask," Leon finally said. "Just ask her. Who knows?"

"Easy for you to say," Emil mumbled. "It was obvious Mei would say yes when you asked her out."

"And it's obvious to everyone but you that Angie will say yes when you ask her out," Leon retorted. "I mean, look at her. She's always smiling when she's with you."

"She smiles when she's with anyone," Emil said.

Leon shook his head. "It's different with you. Just ask her."

"…If you say so…"

* * *

Whenever Emil had imagined asking Angie out, he had always been impressive, confident, ready to sweep her off her feet. What really happened was nowhere near that.

That evening, Emil walked to Angie's house, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans as he went. He knocked on the door, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for an answer. When Angie finally opened the door, it took him a moment to remember how to speak. "Uh, hey, Angie."

"Hey, Emil," she replied, smiling. "What's up? Do you need something?"

Emil opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He wiped his palms on his jeans again. "I…ah…"

Angie started to look confused, concerned, almost. "Is something wrong?"

Emil clenched his fists. It was now or never. "I…I really like you!" he burst out. "I have for a while, and I just…I wanted to ask you out." His face was bright red, he could tell.

Angie stared at him in shock. She couldn't seem to think of anything to say, and for a moment Emil thought that he'd made a huge mistake. He was about to say so when Angie suddenly launched herself into his arms, hugging him fiercely as though she would never let go. "I like you, too!" she exclaimed. "I have, but I was never sure if you liked me back, so…"

Emil wrapped his arms around her. He didn't know what to say. "Well, we know now," he managed, then winced at how awful that sounded.

But Angie only giggled. "We do," she agreed.

And Emil didn't think any words had ever made him as happy as those two had.


End file.
